Competition for telecommunications resources within the home can be fierce. For example, many parents find that, no matter how many lines they have, including broadband access, their teenagers always commandeer all available telecommunications resources for much of the time, especially in the evenings when parents oftentimes desire to use the phone themselves. People sharing telecommunications resources want to be able to easily have those resources available without argument and disagreement, e.g., parents want to get their children off the phone (or off the phone line) without an unnecessary confrontation. Accordingly, a system is needed to help allocate telecommunications resources reasonably among those living together in a home.
Moreover, people within a household presently spend valuable time answering telephone calls for one another, or worse, fail to take the time to pass along messages once a call has been answered. For example, many parents want to stop expending time answering repeated phone calls for their children, while ensuring that their own phone calls will get through or messages for them will be delivered. Therefore, a need exists for a system and method for automatic routing and management of telephone calls in a household.